Film Review – Thanksgiving (2023)

“Thanksgiving” originally appeared in the 2007 double-feature extravaganza, “Grindhouse,” offered as one of a few faux trailers for genre entertainment meant to spice up the viewing experience with a little film marketing fun. Director Eli Roth set out to lampoon holiday-themed slasher entertainment, ending up with a bloody, goofy highlight reel of an R-rated massacre from the 1980s. “Thanksgiving” has returned in 2023, with Roth aiming to extend the life of the joke for a feature-length study of deadly happenings in Plymouth, Massachusetts. What worked in two minutes doesn’t easily translate to a 100-minute-long endeavor, with Roth visibly struggling to expand on the trailer’s premise. And he’s always right there with comedy, returning to silliness while splashing the frame with all kinds of gory encounters. It’s meant to be a blast, but this update/expansion/do-over eventually loses steam, leaving viewers with the helmer’s one-note sense of humor and a mystery that fans of nasty business shouldn’t have trouble solving. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com